One of the biggest challenges of staging Kes is that the film version was able to use landscape to create such feeling of openness and escape. Inevitably, the play tends to focus on lead character Billy’s life at home and in the school, where the drama can be developed. Stockport Garrick’s production uses a bare… Continue Reading →

Despite everything that has happened in the wider world, 2016 has been an incredible year for theatre in Manchester, both in terms of local output, and for the standard of visiting companies. Often, there has been too much to choose from, and theatre can truly take over your life if you let it. Some shows are finished… Continue Reading →

We constantly push the bounds of what theatre can be. What if it is an interactive business game where your newly formed team of six make decisions on how to run your Chinese garment factory in competition with fourteen other groups? What if, before and after, four actors present economic, political and social arguments for… Continue Reading →

The final performance for Manchester School of Theatre’s autumn season at HOME is the Frank McGuinness play Dolly West’s Kitchen. Set in neutral Ireland during the Second World War, the play deals very much in contradictions and confusion. It is a play that addresses contemporary issues in a historical setting, and it’s one of those plays… Continue Reading →